Florida Schools Charging for Adult Education Classes

Starting today, school systems will be required to charge for adult basic education, GED and classes for English Language Learners.  I heard NPR report this morning that students would be charged $30 and no more than $90 a year.  Ronda Cooper, the Leon County Library LVA program director, told me that she expected this will feed more students into the free volunteer literacy programs.

This change was one of many passed by the Florida Legislature this spring.  School systems were one of many institutions that got hit.  NPR also noted that schools would also be laying off teachers this fall as state funding cuts are realized.

This will likely mean volunteer programs may have longer waiting lists or face turning away students.  Waiting lists have been a hot topic on the ProLiteracy Listserve.  Programs have been sharing how many students they have on the list.  They also describing learning alternatives for students while  waiting for a tutor.  Some programs have a policy to keep their waiting lists short.  What do you do? Put your comments below.

Sandy Newell, President, VALF

Big Changes this Weekend in Tutor Training Online Courses

ProLiteracy's site is up with online tutor training courses.  Here is more context on recent changes.

If you are on the ProLitearcy Listserve you may have caught the announcement that Thinkfinity 
is no longer the go-to place for online courses for tutors needing in-service or initial training on working with adult learners. If not, here is a recap.

Starting this weekend, Thinkfinity will be dedicated to only K-12 students.  It will not host courses for adult education or for family literacy.  The announcement said that ProLiteracy is picking up the courses focused on adult learners who are English Language Learners or basic reading learners.  The National Center for Family Literacy  will be hosting  courses for family literacy. 

Learn more from this ProLiteracy email posted on the ProLiteracy listserve by Linda Church.